Air Force Bombers: Options to Retire or Restructure the Force Would Reduce Planned Spending.

This report discusses the basis for the Department of Defenses bomber force requirements and options for reducing planned spending on bombers. The information in this report should be useful to your Committee in its deliberations on future budget levels for the Department of Defense. Although bombers currently in the force were initially designed and procured primarily to meet nuclear war-fighting requirements, since the end of the Cold War the Department of Defense DOD has placed increased emphasis on the role of bombers in future conventional conflicts. In recent years, the Congress has expressed numerous concerns about the size and capabilities of the planned bomber force and the long-term affordability of DODs plans to maintain and modernize airpower assets, including the bomber force. In response to a request from the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, GAO assessed 1 the basis for DODs bomber force requirements, including an analysis of recent DOD and Air Force studies supporting the planned force structure 2 the Air Forces progress in implementing the new conventional concept of operations for using bombers and 3 the costs to keep bombers in the force and enhance their conventional capabilities. As part of this work, GAO also identified and assessed the potential cost savings and effects on military capability of four alternatives for reducing bomber costs, including retiring or reducing the B-1B force, and examined information related to the issue of procuring additional B-2s.